Disclaimer: *I disagree with Bill Maher about many things.
His cliche “dunking” on Millennials, his over-reaction to “cancel” culture (aka consequences for one’s actions), his views on vaccines, his simplistic way of ranking religions, his stupid views on vaccines pre-covid, his platforming of turds, his embrace of many right wing harmful tropes, lack of empathy of some unprivileged groups, etc. I think he’s, more often than not, an overly self-indulgent ass.
Nevertheless, he has occasionally penned some good “new rules” monologues and he has predicted Trump not conceding and attempting a coup before. Now this is what he has to say:
Here is a slightly abridged transcript if you want to save some time:
"The January 6th hearings it turns out changed nobody’s mind. Democrat Jamie Raskin said the hearings would tell a story that will really blow the roof off the house. The committee did a masterful job laying out the case but we live in partisan America now so it’s a little like doing stand up when half the crowd only speaks Mandarin. No matter how good the material is it’s not going to go over. After all the hearings the percentage of Americans who thought Trump did nothing wrong went up three points. That’s America now.
Ben Franklin said our country was a republic if you can keep it… well we can’t. and unless a miracle happens on Tuesday democracy is on the ballot and unfortunately it’s going to lose and once it’s gone it’s gone. Republicans will take control of Congress and next year they’ll begin impeaching Biden and never stop they’ll impeach him for getting out of Afghanistan and getting into Ukraine for inflation for recession for falling off his bike it won’t matter and it won’t make sense but Biden will be a crippled duck when he goes up against Trump in 2024. Even if Trump loses it doesn’t matter. On inauguration day 2025 he’s going to show up whether he’s on the list or not and this time he’s not going to take no for an answer because this time he will have behind him the army of election deniers that is being elected in four days.
There are almost 300 candidates on the ballot this year who don’t believe in ballots and they’ll be the ones writing the rules and monitoring how votes are counted in 24. the facts the policies the behavior don’t matter anymore Trump could be filmed throwing a baby off a bridge and still win. This really is the Crossing the Rubicon moment when the election deniers are elected which is often how countries slide into authoritarianism. Not with tanks in the streets but by electing the people who then have no intention of ever giving it back.
The Republican up for Wisconsin’s governor just said if he’s elected “Republicans will never lose another election”. this is how it happens. Hitler was elected, so was Mussolini, Putin, erdogan, Victor Orban…This is the it can’t happen to us moment that’s happening to us right now. We just don’t feel it yet. We’re the Titanic right after the iceberg hit and honestly too many Americans just don’t care and won’t even care after it happens because they never followed politics to begin with and were never taught in school what democratic government was supposed to look like so how sad can they be about losing something they never knew they had.
You can try and tell them that we will no longer have a system of checks and balances but they will have an answer for that: What’s checks and balances? Democracy is hard. Athens didn’t have to deal with Fox News or the smartphone that made everybody stupid and they only lasted 200 years so 246 years doesn’t look that bad but before we do go I’d like to say a little farewell to some of the things that really did make America great that now we’re going to lose forever like:
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The peaceful transfer of power: the jewel in our crown. That thing that so many other nations couldn’t pull off that we always did… oh well!***
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the Bill of Right: when there is no accountability at The Ballot Box there are no actual rights. Look generalisimo Trump is not going t obring back child labor or end Social Security or re-segregate the water fountains. He doesn’t hate Jews. Ivanka is a Jew and he loves her. Now that she’s 40, only as a friend but still. Make no mistake it will be an entirely different way of life for many because our elections will just be for show like in China and Russia and all theother places Trump says are very strong.***
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Free speech: Well he’s a man who’s always taken criticism well but I wouldn’t count on that one lasting.
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I wouldn’t count on freedom of religion lasting. Q Anon and the other shocktroops of the Trump takeover of the Republican Party are all quasi-religious entities who want a Christian government.
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The rule of law. That one was a real Jewel. Maybe our finest Hour As Americans was after World War II when we gave even the defeated Nazis a fair trial Justice Robert Jackson said that voluntarily submitting our captive defeated enemies to the rule of law was one of the most significant tributes that power had ever paid to reason.
Well power will very soon not be paying any more tributes to Reason. Not In America anyway so yeah I urge you to vote but I’ve always been a realist I’m afraid democracy is like the McRib it’s here now it’ll be around for a little bit longer so enjoy it while you can."
—END OF MONOLOGUE—
I would like to dismiss Maher’s pessimistic assessment but that is what many people in many countries mistakenly did.
“The marketplace of ideas will guarantee a win for democracy” concept seems to only work for an elite few. In the US, conservatives are swimming, partly by choice, in toxic, brain-rotting misinformation.
Internationally, many people of all political stripes will go as far as using social media sources that spread misleading or outright fabricated anecdotal evidence to make life or death decisions (see Covid19 antivax fears).
If I accept this mounting evidence that even ** “highly” literate** masses ** from the richest nations believe lies** crafted to appeal to their media bubbles over unvarnished truths; if I accept polling that 2/3 of Americans don’t trust mainstream media, then serious concern is not unwarranted.
So, to go back to the topic title, How concerned are you?